Steuben County, New York

Steuben County Education, Geography, and History

Steuben County is a county located in the state of New York. Based on the 2010 census, the population was 98,990. Its county seat is Bath. Its name is in honor of Baron von Steuben, a German general who fought on the American side in the American Revolutionary War, though it is not pronounced the same.

Steuben County comprises the Corning, NY Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Elmira-Corning, NY Combined Statistical Area.

Etymology - Origin of Steuben County Name

Named in honor of Baron Steuben, a major general in the Revolution

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: CensusBureau Quick Facts

Steuben County History

Steuben County, named in honor of Major-general Frederick William Baron de Steuben, the celebrated tactician of the revolutionaryarmy, was taken from Ontario in 1796; boundaries since much altered; from Albany centrally distant SW 216 miles, from New YorkW. 220; length and breadth 40 miles. The surface is broken and hilly, if not mountainous. Along the rivers, the general aspect of the county is uninviting, except that in some parts the alluvial flats are extensive and rich. The river hills are rocky, precipitous, and covered with evergreens; but the upland plains have a rich variety of trees,and fertile tracts principally of clayey loam. The staples of the courtyard lumber, grain, cattle, and wool. The lumbering is the chief business of the southern towns; but as the country cleared of its forests agriculture rises in importance. Chemung river is the great stream of the county; it was called by the Senecas Cononque, "horn in the water." Its flats are said to be superior in fertility to the Mohawk. This county, excepting the town of Reading on the western shore of the Seneca lake, was included in the extensive cession of New York to Massachusetts, and passed from that state, through Messrs. Phelps and Gorham and Robert Morris, to Sir William Pulteney. It was mostly settled by Pennsylvanians, excepting Prattsburg, which was settled by New Englanders. The county is divided into 27 towns. Source: Historical Collections of the State of New York, Past and Present, John Barber, Clark Albien & Co., 1851

Steuben County's great-great-grandmother county was Albany, its great-grandmother county was Tryon, its grandmother county was Montgomery and its mother county was Ontario. The County of Steuben was formed by an act of the legislature from Ontario County on March 18, 1796 and was named after Frederic William Augustus "Baron Von Steuben"a German drill master in the Revolutionary War. Steuben County at that time has a population of about 890 people and an area of about 50 miles square. Over the years, portions have been annexed to Allegany, Yates, Livingston and Schuyler Counties, so that the present size of Steuben County is 1,397 Square miles of land area. As a matter of comparison, Steuben County has 348 more miles of land area than the state of Rhode Island.

Geography: Land and Water

Steuben County is in the southwestern part of New York State, immediately north of the Pennsylvania border. The population of Steuben County according to the 2000 U. S. census was 98,726. The county is in the Southern Tier region of New York State.

As reported by the Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,404 square miles (3,637 km²), of which, 1,393 square miles (3,607 km²) of it is land and 11 square miles (30 km²) of it (0.82%) is water.

Neighboring Counties

Bordering counties are as follows:

• Yates County, New York - north
• Ontario County, New York - north
• Chemung County, New York - east
• Schuyler County, New York - east
• Tioga County, Pennsylvania - south
• Potter County, Pennsylvania - southwest
• Allegany County, New York - west
• Livingston County, New York - northwest

Education

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